Andhra NIT senior students protest action against ragging

HYDERABAD: Hundreds of students of the National Institute of Technology (NIT) in Andhra Pradesh’s West Godavari district protested against the “unilateral decision” of the authorities to expel and suspend five students on charges of ragging their juniors, officials said on Wednesday.

More than 300 students from second, third and fourth year engineering courses at the institute in Tadepalligudem staged a demonstration on campus on Tuesday against authorities for “punishing” the five for what they described as a petty clash between seniors and juniors.

Some of them threatened to commit suicide if authorities did not revoke the action.

“It is quite common in any institution to witness petty clashes between students. But the authorities are treating this incident as a serious crime and ruining the precious careers of the students,” a student said while speaking to the local media.

Authorities said the incident of ragging was reported on February 2. Some senior students from Andhra and Telangana allegedly ragged first-year students from Bihar, which led to clashes between junior groups.

“We received a complaint that some senior students resorted to ragging and beating. We referred the matter to the disciplinary committee,” NIT coordinator S Srinivas said.

A national-level anti-ragging committee from NIT Warangal conducted an inquiry and confirmed the incident.

Local journalist T Suresh said junior students agreed to a compromise and withdrew complaint, but authorities did not relent, saying the anti-ragging committee had already recommended action.